More evictions for Austin’s low-income families from once-affordable homes

From left, David Rodriguez, Lisbeth Rodriguez, Edgar Nunez and Alan Rodriguez, arrive at their apartment after school Wednesday afternoon September 28, 2016 at Harvard Place at 5020 Manor Rd. Management gave notice to their residents they were being evicted within 30 days on September 30, 2016. The city council is trying to assist under the newly passed Tenant Relocation Ordinance which gives such residents 120 days to relocate.RALPH BARRERA/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

When it comes to affordable housing, particularly for low- or working-income families, Austin’s attitude seems to be “There’s no more room at the inn.”

Sadly, it has become acceptable – even laudable – in some circles to evict, eject or otherwise force out long-time residents of modest or meager means to make way for the more prosperous newcomers who want to live in the central city. It is, as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would say, “smart” business to demolish the city’s most affordable housing stock and neighborhoods to build high-rent condos and homes for the well-heeled.

The most recent example of that is the hard-core eviction notices that went to residents of an East Austin apartment complex to move out in 30 days. These were low-income families – all Hispanic — with children who attend nearby Blanton Elementary School.

Blanton is a school with a pretty good record of educating all kids, including those who come speaking little or no English, or show up hungry because their families are deciding between paying the rent or buying enough food to last the month. So it makes sense that parents would want their children in a school with such a reputation.

As apartment complexes go, 5020 Manor Road is relatively small with 58 units. It has been repeatedly cited by the city for code violations. Despite such issues, it has served many families over the decades as an affordable option in the central city near major public transportation.

But here’s the thing: The property, which has gone by the name Harvard Manor and Lyric at Mueller, is walking distance from the affluent Mueller redevelopment with its pricey homes and condos, sprawling parks and trails, trendy shops and restaurants and protected bike lanes. So the 5020 Manor Road’s proximity to Mueller makes it too valuable for low-income residents who have occupied it all these years as it languished in disrepair.

Maybe the former owner could not afford to continue maintenance or maybe the offer by a new, out of state investor was too good to turn down. Whatever the case, there’s no more room at that inn for the working poor.

In all, 30 families were ordered out of their homes by Sept. 30. Thanks to intervention of several city and school district leaders, including Austin City Council Member Kathie Tovo and school trustee, Edmund Gordon, as well as Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, the remaining couple of dozen families initially were given another month to find new homes.

But they now will have more time – until about the end of the year — due to a new city ordinance aimed at softening the impact of evictions on low-income Austin residents.

The ordinance requires property owners to give tenants who might be displaced at least 120 days’ notice before the filing of an application for a building or demolition permit that would force them from their homes. As the American-Statesman’s James Barragan reported, the city’s development services on Friday triggered the ordinance, suspending three demolition permits that the owners of 5020 Manor filed with the city.

An eviction notice hangs on an apartment doorknob, placed there by a Travis County constable Wednesday afternoon September 28, 2016. The complex, at 5020 Manor Road, gave notice to residents Sept. 1 that they must leave within 30 days, by September 30, 2016. The City Council is trying to assist under the newly passed tenant relocation ordinance, which gives such residents 120 days to relocate.RALPH BARRERA/AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Aaron Rasty, the new manager of the company that owns the property, later told Barragan that he was unaware of the tenant relocation ordinance, but now will work with the city. He added that management had assisted some tenants in finding new housing.

But even with more time, finding an affordable apartment in Austin these days is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

There was a time when a large stretch of Manor Road, from Airport Boulevard to U.S. 183, was lined with low-rent and so-called Section 8 housing for the poor. But the rise of the Mueller redevelopment – ironically from city-owned property that once housed Robert Mueller Municipal Airport – has triggered a shift in housing that now beckons hipsters with apartments marketed by their location to nearby Mueller.

Those trends that are disproportionately displacing African Americans and Latinos have been aided by city policies dating back several mayors to then-Mayor Kirk Watson, and numerous city managers, including City Manager Marc Ott, who last week stepped down to take a job in Washington, D.C.

Even the city’s well-intended repeat offender list seems to be working against affordability in certain cases.

Though the city’s repeat offender list for rental properties that violate city code aims to pressure landlords to repair properties, it has instead become what Shoshana Krieger of Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid calls a “real estate speculator’s list.” So instead of spending money to fix properties in desirable areas of town, such as 5020 Manor Road, owners sell them for big profits. Apartments that were once low-rent are replaced with higher-rental units or condos.

“Instead of helping the people who have been living in these conditions for so long, whose health and safety has suffered, it (repeat offender list) seems to be rewarding slumlords who have profited off families,” said Krieger who heads the Building and Strengthening Tenant Action project.

Tovo also expressed concern that the repeat offender list is in certain cases spurring landlords to sell properties rather than repair them for the tenants living in them. Tovo said the city should examine ways to help landlords who are financially-strapped, such as steering them to low-interest loans, so there are options other than selling properties when landlords can’t afford to repair them.

As for the city’s tenant relocation ordinance, it did its job by stopping speedy evictions. It is unfortunate, however, that success is not measured by keeping families in their homes, schools or community, but in how long they get to stay before being booted out.

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